VA one-shots
by LalaFrostFang
Summary: Since I'm not so good at writing summaries, I'm gonna make it short :) These are one-shots (obviously ((: ), about every characters in V.A that I can possibly think of and what ever happens to them that pops into my mind :) so... enjoy . And Christmas speacial is up :) RnR plz :*
1. Chapter 1

There was a memory burned deep inside Rose's mind. She didn't have the courage to face it, and she couldn't shake it off. It just sat there, burning deeper as days went by. It became a ghost that haunted her dreams, a veil wrapped around her mind that closed in every single day until it choked her and made her feel as if she couldn't go on. She woke up alone in the dark of the night, screaming and crying at the top of her lungs as the memory took over.

Tonight, after such a long time, it came back. She was running and tripping in the dark. Her eyes widen in terror as she felt the breath of a beast,

"C..o..m..e...B..a..c..k...T..o...Me...D..o..n't.. .Y..o..u.. L..o..v..e...P..a..p..a..?"

A thought came to her blurred mind, "Had you loved me, you wouldn'have raped me"

And she ran faster. Pain shot through the small spot between her legs with each step she took, her vision blurred. Everything but the thought of running away from the hell hole she used to call home slipped off her mind and she felt like a robot. She ran and ran until strenght left her and she collapsed. She felt the hot breath again. A horrifying scream escaped her lips and she fell into the darkness.

Rose abruptly sat up. She bit her lip to stop the scream from escaping her dream. Chills ran down her spine and her tears fell.

"Love, are you ok?", came a voice.

She was startled, then she remembered. Her guardian angel Dimitri was here tonight. She sighed in relief and lay down in his embrace.

"Are your nightmares always that bad?", he asked.

"Yeah, they used to be bad because I always had to wake up all alone. But it doesn't matter now. You are here now. You're gonna keep me safe, right?", she looked in to his brown eyes expectantly.

"Of course, isn't that what an angel supposed to do?", he smiled. "But do you want to tell me about it? You may feel more relieved".

"Nah, it's not such a big deal", she gave him a peck on the lips. "Go back to sleep, but hold me like this, k? I like your warmth".

She heard his low chuckle that she loved so much. And just before she closed her eyes, she made a silent promise to herself, "Tonight, I, Rose Hathaway, promise to tell Dimitri Belikov everything, both good and bad, about myself. Just give me a little more time then I'll definetely open my heart as wide as possible for you to step in".

And with that, she fell back to a peaceful dreamless sleep, a smile still on her lips.


	2. Chapter 2: Lissa Christian

Author's note: Thanks to vanillatwilight208 's review, I found out that I wasn't very helpful in giving information *laugh*. So, this is to fix that flaw (:

Oneshot No.2:

CHARACTERS: Lissa + Christian.

WORLD: Our world. Lissa's home. Right before prom night.

BEGIN:

LISSA:

From the mirror, my reflection smiled back at me. I was pleased with what I saw. Lifting my hands up in the air, I pretend I were with my date and placed my hand on his imaginary shoulder. We glided across my room to the sweet melody in my head. I giggled to myself as I fell on the bed. Prom, eh? Felt like a dream come true!

CHRISTIAN:

I tugged at my tie one last time and walked to the car. Looking at myself in the side mirror, I felt depressed. Prom, eh? Seemed more like a nightmare to me.

LISSA:

"Lis! Are you done? Your boyfriend's here!", called mom.

"Your boyfriend". Those words made me feel giddy. I looked at the mirror one last time: a sky-blue dress hugged my body perfectly, my blonde hair did up in a messy bun, leaving a few strands hanging above my eyes. I grabbed the necklace my best friend Rose gave me last birthday. It was a silver string with a small rose painted with the brightest red I'd ever seen. That girl couldn't make it since she sprained her running and jumping in the park last week. She insisted that I wore that rose to prom so she could feel like she was there (how could I ever refuse her!). I'm surprised that the color of my dress and the necklace went so well together. It reminded me of our friendship: we were so different, yet we were like a perfect harmony.

I switched off the light and left the room. A smile played at the corner of my lips. Tonight, I felt like a queen.

CHRISTIAN:

I wished I could dig a hole and curled up in there until this nightmare was over. Mrs. Dragonmir and Lissa's little sister Jill kept bombarding me with questions, Mr. Dragonmir sat on the sofa looking at me pitifully and I felt like a criminal being questioned. Suddenly, Jill let out a long "wowww". I looked up and immediately understood why. There she was, my Lissa, standing on top of the stairs, looking like an angel. She saw me staring and smiled shyly. She stepped down took my hand and I, Christian Ozera, grinned at her like a fool. We said goodbye to her family and got to my car. As I just settled in the driver's seat, Lissa leaned over and gave me a good long kiss on the lips. Man! She was becoming more and more daring, just like Hathaway! And suddenly, I thought this night wouldn't be so bad after all!


	3. Chapter 3: Rose n Dimitri n a puppy :D

One-shot No.3

CHARACTERS: mainly Rose and Dimitri.

Oh, and a cute little puppy, too :D

WORLD: Our world. Dimitri has a grudge against dogs (sad, right :( I love dogs, especially fluffy ones :D )

BEGIN:

ROSE:

Me, Lissa and Sydney walked out of the mall. All kinds of bags dangling from our arms. Lissa even managed to hold a cup of Starbuck cappuchino to her lips and took a long drink that sounded of "slurrrp"! Don't be fooled by her blond-haired-green-eyed princess look, she could be reaaally disturbing sometimes! Sydney kept going on and on about how Mia ditched us to hang with her boyfriend, " She hasn't gone shopping with us for two months!". Lissa nodded in approval. Even though I don't like girl's babbling much, it was comfortable having them around. Especially on our shopping sprees! I would never know what looked good on me with out them! After all, what did God created BFs for!

That day would have been just a normal day if I hadn't fell flat on my face. Literally, a face-down-flat-on-the-ground fall! Lissa and Sydney gasped in unison. I scrambled up, just to fall down again and got the bags all tangled. Great! Just great! This time, having learned my lesson, I lifted my head first. Something caught my eyes. I stood up hastily, managed to stay on my feet. I shoved all my bags to Sydney and ran to it. "It" was a small pup!

"OMG OMG! O-M-FREAKIN'-G! Look! It's a little stray puppy!", I squealed.

Lissa and Sydney rushed over, squealing even louder than me as they saw the pup. The pup backed off a few steps, obviously scared of the three girl freaking out over its cuteness. I held my hands out to it, saying softly, "Hey little one! Are you lost? Do you want to go to my place? Rosie won't hurt you! C'mon! Come to me!"

The dog hesitantly came over, sniffed my hand and licked it. I giggled and scooped it up. Turning to Lissa and Sydney, I saw them looking at me with wide eyes.

"I've never knew you had that in you", she blinked a few times and said.

"I'm full of surprises! Shouldn't ya know that already?", I answer with a grin.

"But what will you do about Dimitri?", Lissa asked.

I frowned. Dimitri's undying resentment toward dogs was well known. I hadn't thought of that. Suddenly, I felt like a genius. I looked at them determinately, a mischievous smile played at the corner of my lips, "I have an amazing idea. But first, let's go back to the mall. For this fluffy ball of cuteness, I will go in to the place I've sworn to never go into!".

DIMITRI

I drove into the driveway. The house was dark. I wonder why. Rose was never home late from her shopping trips. Normally, the bedroom lights would be on since she always tried her clothes on again. I opened the door. It was quiet. Rose was definitely not home. I sighed. Seeing her face was always a relief when I had a rough time at work. I hang my keys and walked into the kitchen.

ROSE

I checked my reflection on my phone screen. I looked perfect: brown curls fell smoothly on my shoulders, a low-cut dress red as flame hugged my body, revealing just enough skin to drive one crazy. Tonight, Dimitri would definitely fall for my plan. I would not fail the puppy! I saw him stepping into the kitchen. A devilish smile appeared on my lips.

"Prepare to bend to my will", I thought and lit the candles.

DIMITRI

In the dark, the dim but sudden light hurted my eyes.

"Rose, what have you done this time?", I groaned, stars dancing in my vision.

Rose stood up and wrapped her arms around my neck, "What! I've done absolutely nothing wrong! Why do you have to be so suspicious? What's wrong with preparing my beloved husband a wonderful dinner after his hard day at work? Look, I even make you a yummy chicken!".

"Chicken, eh?" I eyed the table and there it was, Rose's infamous chicken: its skin was falling off, the meat was half burnt, half raw and the whole thing lying in the middle of a mess of raw leaves and slices of tomato that I assumed to be the salad. I wondered why she even put the salad and chicken in the same plate anyway.

I shook my head, "Let's just order in, k? Or do you want some omelet and bread?"

Rose sighed, looking defeated, "Omelet please".

I smiled and kissed her, "I appreciate the effort, darling, but next time, you can put on your new clothes to distract me while I do the cooking".

"I know something you can concentrate on. Something like guessing what I'm wearing beneath this dress", she smiles devilishly and brought her lips close to mine.

"Why should I guess when I can just unzip your dress here and now?", I chuckled.

"You are no fun", she pouted. "But for today, I'll let you do want. Just don't forget to take a close look at the brand", she winked and sealed my lips with a kiss.

ROSE

With my lips on his, I was certain I had succeeded. He kissed me hungrily, his hand quickly freed me of my dress. It fell to the ground. He pulled back a little, just enough to get a glimpse of my lingeries.

His eyes widened, "I thought you said you'd rather die than wearing Victoria's Secret? And if I remember correctly, you even said you would never come into that store. Something is definitely off".

My heart skipped a beat. p00p! I didn't remember declaring that to him.

I crossed my arms defensively, "So? I decided to try something new! And don't you like this sexy me?"

"In my opinion, this new sexy Roza rocks!", he winked.

And as our lips were about to close in again, the puppy decided to bark.

DIMITRI

I was certain I heard a dog around here somewhere. Somewhere close, like our bedroom.

"That was a dog, right?", I asked Rose.

"Yes, probably from our neighbours", a weird look crossed her face. "Why don't you get back to what we were doing just a while ago?"

I turned away, heading to our room. I was sure there were something running around inside. Then, there was another "woof..". Definitely a dog! I kicked the door open and there it was, the source of all those annoying sound, playing happily in the wardrobe, making a mess of my clothes.

"Rose! Come take a look of what that dog've done!", I called out and grab the dog by the neck. It let out a pathetic yelp. Rose rushed into the room, her eyes widened at the sight.

"No! Dimitri! Let the pup down! You are hurting her!", she shrieked.

"I thought we agreed on not having a dog?", I questioned.

"But she was lost! She could have died if I had left her on the street! Are you that heartless?! Well, I'm not heartless, so I'm taking that pup in! And what's your problem with dogs anyway? You've never told me, and you expect me to understand your hatred to dogs?"

I sighed and rubbed my forehead, "I guess I should tell you now, shouldn't I? You know of Ivan, right? I told you he's dead, but I didn't tell you how. He died of an infection from a dog bite. My hometown was just a small village. In those day, medical care wasn't available to everyone, just those with money. Ivan didn't get any proper treatment. I tried to get help from the main town but he died before I get back. If I had got back earlier, he wouldn't have died. So now you understand why I hate those creatures?"

ROSE

He was practically shouting. I saw tears swell up in his eyes. He buried his head in his hands and fell to the floor. I rushed to his side and hugged him tight.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know anything. I'm so sorry! I'll take the dog to the pound. Please, just don't look so upset! Seeing you like this breaks my heart!", I rambled, tears blurring my eyes, too.

He wiped his eyes and smirked, "I didn't know you would give up that easily". Then his face softened, "Keep the dog, darling. I don't want you to feel guilty about abandoning something when you know you can help it. It's about time I faced these old feelings anyway. I just didn't expect this time to come so soon".

"I'm here for you, Dimka. You don't have to fight it alone. And little Popo is here for you, too", I said and held the pup up to him.

He raised his eyebrow, "Popo?"

"To remind me of the big poo I got myself in bringing this pup home!", I raised my eyebrows (DAMN!) like it was something obvious.

He chuckled lightly, " Ok, Popo.. welcome to my home. Sorry for grabbing your neck earlier. Forgive me, eh? I'll try to get along with you, but don't think too important of yourself. I'm doing this for the lovely girl who brought you here".

His face suddenly turned serious as those last words left his lips. I smiled, leaned in and kissed him. He let go of Popo and embraced me, trailing kisses on my neck. Popo looked at us with her big watery eyes, let out a goodbye "woof" and left. Man, I loved this pup! Dimitri fumbled with my bra, took it off me and let it fall. Then, what supposed to happen happened, and I was filled with happiness greater than ever before. Another hidden part of Dimitri's heart had opened up to me.


	4. Chapter 4: Janine n Abe

A/n: I was gonna make this the prologue of a long story, but I haven't had the skill to write it yet, so I'm gonna put this here and think of a plot (: I'll definitely work on it (;

ONESHOT NO.4:

CHARACTERS: Abe Mazur + Janine Hathaway. They are married and have a newborn child named Rose Hathaway Mazur (queer name, right? But they are so freaking in love that I can't name their child with only the mother's name ): ). Oh, and Rose has some kind of fearful prophecy on her so she is hunted :p

WORLD: some freaking witch world where every one have a power element - earth, fire, water and air (no spirit) - but water users are rare, powerful and hunted by the leaders of the world :p and these witches and wizards have the ability to travel between worlds.

BEGIN:

"Take the baby! Take her!", a man with a big scar across his face shouted and kicked the front door of a lovely cottage wide open.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

In the back room, Janine Hathaway crouched on the floor, holding her baby girl tightly.

"I'm sorry darling. I'm so sorry. I wish I could protect you, but I can't. I'm so sorry", she sobbed.

Abe Mazur looked at her with pleading eyes, "There's no time for crying. Send her away. I can't hold the door much longer. Those beasts are already banging on it like maniac. SEND HER AWAY!"

The baby stirred at his shout and started crying.

Janine hushed, "Now dear, don't cry. Crying is not pretty". She waved her hand, making a purple portal floated a couple of inches above the ground. She kissed her baby forehead one last time and gently wrapped a small book in her child's blanket.

"I know I'll see you again some day. I know, 'cause I'm a prophet, aren't I? I can see all of us sitting together one day when you've grown into a beautiful girl. We will be just like a real family. So goodbye for now, Rosemarie Hathaway Mazur.", she smiled sadly, pushed the little girl through the portal and shut it. A tear leaked out of the corner of her eyes. Abe looked at her with pained expression.

He asked, "You've said so yourself, crying is not pretty. Wipe your eyes, dear. And one last question, are you ready?".

Janine wiped the tear away, a smile played at the corner of her lips, "Ready as ever".

A devilish grin spread across his face, "So let's blow 'em up. We couldn't protect our daughter doesn't mean we can't protect ourselves".

She nodded, a red flame appeared between her slender fingers. They both took a deep breath in unison. The man formed a water globe around them and let go of the door.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

The group of people rushed into the room.

The same thought formed in their heads, "A water wizard! It can't be!"

The man smirked as if he could read their thoughts.

The leader quickly recovered and raised his voice, "Show us where you hid the girl and you won't get hurt. I know you can't do magic with a baby at hand".

The woman answered in a sing-song voice, "Why should we tell you? We could just kill you all right now!"

"No can do 'mam. The mails and weapons were charmed by our most powerful wizard. There's no way your magic can break through the spell", he laughed.

"Wrong thinking!", she growled and the flame in her hands flared up. Water turned into steam as soon as it made contact with the flame. The hot steam found its way to the evil men as if it had eyes. They scream in horror as it slid into their noses, their ears and finally their wide open mouths. It burned them from the inside, making them cried out in pain and begged for mercy. Suddenly, the scream stopped and dead silence took over. Six stained bodies fell lump on the ground.

Two standing people sighed in relief. They looked at each other, a big grin spread across the women's face. she smirked, "If I had known killing those people was so easy, I could have just hid Rose under our bed. Those wizards obviously haven't thought of making those charms steam-proof". But then her face turned serious, "But she would be safer there than here. Do you think I've made the right choice?".

The man looked at her lovingly, "I know you did. You were thinking for her, not yourself. Now, back to our main problem here. We've just killed some of the world's greatest knights, easily if I may add. Those idiots in the Council will definitely chase us down to the end of the world. So what do we do?".

"Of course we would do whatever we need to do, silly! Let's start with getting the hell out of here!".

And with that, she jumped out of the window and made a dash for the wood.

"Are you coming or not?", She called out.

The man smiled. That woman never failed to amuse him. He shock his head and followed. He hated running away, but if that was what she wanted, he'll run with her until his last breath.

END.

Another A/N: I'm having final exams in the next month, so I probably won't be able to post anything new ): too bad, but after that I'll have a week off for lunar new year, so, expect new stories (;

Oh, and thank you, anyone who read this, for your wonderful support (; (I sound lame, don't I ((: )


	5. Chapter 5: Tasha :p

One-shot No5:

CHARACTERS: Tasha and creatures of the Underworld :D

WORLD: V.A's world. Hell! (Mwuahahahaha :D)

Oh! She did kill the queen and received death sentence from the council for it but the queen (a.k.a Lissa :*) decided to be merciful and spare her and even asked Rose to be Tasha's guardian to help her rebuild her life. She even became good friends to Rose and the gang! (Even though I hate her like shit for trying to steal Dimitri, I'm trying to be a good person and not let her die friendless :p seriously, I feel like god doing this :p )

OooooooooooooooooooooooO

BEGIN:

It was near midnight. Rain drops splashed on Tasha's windshield, making merry sounds, or so she thought. May be it was because she was feeling a bit hazy. After the third round at the bar, everything went blurry and she just couldn't keep her mind straight. She remember Dimitri and Rose offering to take her home, but how could she bear to leave her new Porsche at that crappy bar! So now, she was driving in this drunken state. She kindda regret it. Her hands were shaking like crazy and sweat was pouring. She let go out the steering wheel to wipe her forehead. But, if a drunk could drive steadily with one hand, then pigs would fly! The wheel slid on the slippery road, a terrifying scream escaped Tasha's lips. The car crashed into the barrier with a force that made her head jerk back and jerk forward again, harder this time. The air bag popped out, but it was too late.

"Damn! Stupid car!" was the only thought in her head.

The air bag smashed into her face, making a bloody mess. Her neck snapped, sending sharp pain through her body. Then there was nothing but numbed limps.

OoooooooooooooooooooooooooO

She felt herself floating up. So, this is dying, huh? She believed in spirits, but she had always thought that one's spirit would rip apart from the body and it would hurt like hell.

"So, it's true what they say. A quick death doesn't hurt much", she thought.

She saw a light. Not a big shiny light like the light at the end of the tunnel. It was more of a giant firefly, glowing in a soft blue haze. She opened her hands and the light came to her. It was strangely beautiful, and she found herself looked at it lovingly. But as soon as they touched, the color went from the soothing blue haze to a bloody, ugly shade of red. She stared at it in horror. It was no different from Tatiana's blood! She tried in vain to shake it off but the thing stuck to her hands, draining her soul off the last bit of life her held on to. But just as she felt as if she was gonna shrink to nothingness, the ball exploded, its light consumed her. In the blinding light, she was sucked into the darkness.

OooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

She woke up in suffocating darkness. She was sure she was in the dark, but everything appeared so clearly. She wanted to laugh out loud! You live, you got to see the light. You die, then only darkness came to your eyes.

Looking around, she found out that she was on a big field, its ground hard and cracking and grass withered.

"The sun didn't bother to pay this poor place a visit!" she shook her head at the pitiful thought.

Taking a closer look, she saw thousands of half-transparent body like hers. They either lay there, unconscious or, like her, sat there and looked around.

But little did she know that this vast field was the place where the light had sent the murderers ever since the beginning of time. Those who lay unconscious there were souls who had killed out of pure enjoyment of themselves. That, according to the Underworld, was the greatest sin one could commit. That little beautiful light had turned red to them, too, then drained them whole and left nothing but empty shells. Tasha didn't know how lucky she was for being able to wake up. She just sat there, cursing the light for sending her to this middle of nowhere with a bunch of ghost.

Suddenly, out of thin air, an ugly monster appeared in front of her face. She eyed it curiously, staggering on her flimsy ghost legs toward the creature as it held a slimy hand toward her. A toothless grin appeared on the hole supposed to be its mouth. She wondered why.

Placing a hand on the small of her back, it presented another disgusting smile. She shuddered as she felt the coldness slipped into her. Her eyes stuck on its weird eyes. It was much like a star, but there was an evil gleam to it. And it was so hollow, so sad that she felt pity for the monster. The weirdest thing popped into her mind: she wanted those eyes. It was sad, it was hollow, yet it was so beautiful in a twisted way. The monster smiled again as if it read her thought.

OoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooO

She walked a few step behind the monster, or at least tried to. She kept floating up like a balloon!

"Damn this stupid ghostly body!" a curse escape her lips.

"For the sake of the devil, shut your mouth!" the monster turned and smacked her in the head. She expected the hand to go through, but it hit her, hard! She bounced back like a ball, yet she felt nothing.

"At least dead came along with some pros", she thought sourly.

They soon passed the field and she found herself standing in front of an elaborate gate. It was made of wood, carved with figures so real that they seemed alive. There was one picture that caught her eyes: on the cloud, there was an angel, his face twisted in pain as his wings melted to the boiling lava of Hell below. A little devil stood by him and smirked nastily. Its little ruby eyes twinkle like those of the monster next to her. Then, again, it swelled in her, that weird hope of owning those eyes.

The monster waved its hand. Strands of smoke escaped its fingertips and scraped the door. In Tasha eyes, the smoke vanished as the door sucked it in and all the carving came to life. They twisted, stretched, and turned, and twisted again. The angel face seemed to be more painful and she swore she could somehow hear his scream. And all of the sudden, every motions stopped and the heavy wooden door creaked open...

TO BE CONTINUED.

Another A.N: As you can see, I will continue this particular one-shot but just for another chapter, because Tasha hadn't yet to become a monster as I intended in the first place *oops..! Teaser! Haha :D*already working on that chap (; thanks for reading.

Oh! Another thing: REVIEW PLEASE :D *puppy eyes* me wanna know wat ya think o' my writtin' *v*


	6. Chapter 6: Christian and family :)

In the joyful and awesome spirit of Christmas, I present to you….

One-shot No.6 (a.k.a Christmas special :D ) *throwing mistletoes :D*

CHARACTERS: Lissa and Christian and a bunch of kids :D told in Sparky's POV (;

WORLD: Ours :D Christmas

A.N: I just realized that I usually let characters ramble like crazy :p

BEGIN

24th December - night

I flopped down on bed. Today had been so exhausting. God damn Christmas! I understood that this is the time for family and friends, but why did my family and friends had to go on shopping sprees for Christmas EVERY SINGLE FREAKIN' YEAR, even when Christmas day was the next morning!? Or, to be exact, why did they had to drag me along to be some kind of bellboy. For God's sake, I felt miserable in the stead of the guys in our gang: Dimitri, Adrian, Eddie and me all had the same we-are-so-freaking-bored expressions displayed on our face as the four witches named Lissa, Rose, Mia and Sydney glided happily from stores to stores, giggling all the way and pointing at things they wanted to buy.

But still, I had to admitted, at the time, I was too focus on staring at Lissa to bother all the things she made me carried. She was so gorgeous: silky blond hair tied into a loose bun leaving a few strands hanging above her beautiful green eyes, bright colored clothes that made her look like Santa's cute little elf, and somehow Rose had talked her into wearing reindeer antlers! But the best of all was her beautiful, sunshine smile that made one's heart thumping. When she turned around, look at me, and gave me that smile, I thought I saw an angel, just without the feathered wings.

Suddenly, the sound of the bedroom door sprang open cut my train of thoughts. The kids rushed in and I couldn't help a strange warmth spreading in my heart.

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddyyy!"

"Hey kiddo! How ya doin'! Are you excited about tomorrow?"

"Yesssss!", their squealing rang like fire alarm in my ears. No surprises there, since next morning, we were going to Rose's house right after the presents were opened to prepare for our family Christmas dinner. No kid could ever resist happy auntie Rose with her endless supply of gummy bears!

To my relief, Lissa decided to step in and save the day, "Come on kids. Time for bed! The first to get in to the blanket get goodnight kisses on both forehead and cheek!".

All five little devils happily rushed out as they heard the promise. It's funny how Lissa could pull that trick every single time, and I couldn't. I followed them to the hall. Little Anna tried to run faster as she saw her twin Annie approaching, but she stuck her tongue out at her as he ran past. Little Annie couldn't keep her first place for so long as our eldest daughter Rosalind dashed by, but the poor girl tripped and fell flat on the floor. Lissa's eyes widened and she rushed to her side. Rosalind sat up and laughed at her mother's over-worried face and kissed her to reassure her. That's my strong girl! A father's pride swelled inside me.

"I won! I won!", Mason and Meg's voices suddenly rang through the hall. "No you didn't! I won! No shut up! Don't say what I say!", their voices came again in unison. I chuckled. They always seemed to read each other's mind, and they always denied being twins. I guessed they would grow out of that childish squabbling eventually. Lissa laughed and looked at me. I immediately followed as she walked into the kid room. She gently pulled Mason away from Meg and looked at them sternly, "For squabbling, I shall take your share of goodnight kisses tonight and give them to your little sisters". I gave them a little serve-you-right smirk. They pouted but didn't say another thing. Lissa urged them to go to bed and assured them that Santa would come to visit our home.

"How can he not when we've prepared him the best cookies in the world, right Rosalind?"

The girl blushed at the compliment. It was obvious that she didn't know how good her cookies were.

After the kids had settled down, Lissa took another loving look at them and pulled me out to the hall. There she planted a gentle kiss on my lips and whispered in my ear, "Thank you for giving me those little angles, I love you so much you know?"

I was gonna kiss her back but she quickly pulled away, "Let go set up the presents, k? I can't wait to see their happy faces tomorrow!"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

25th December – morning:

"Beeppp! Beeppp! Beeppp!..."

"Oh for God's sake shut up you damned alarm!" I groaned and tried to reach the clock.

"Beeppp! Beeppp! Bee…."

Thanks God for the peace and quiet. But, it seemed like I've said my thank too soon.

"BANGG!", the door sprang open, and once again, the kids rushed in.

"Mommy! Daddy! Wake up! Wake up!"

Anna started jumping up and down on our bed and was soon followed by her little sister Annie. Mason and Meg decided to be a little noisier and started howling like a firetruck. I felt myself curled into a ball at the tantrum they were throwing. Lissa was the first to give in. She slowly crawled out of the bed and Rosalind happily took out a big brush to comb her mother's silky hair.

"C'mon Rosa! Hurry up! Mommy hair is beautiful already! We gotta open presents!", Annie yelled.

Meg pulled my blanket off and Mason started tickling my feet, and I found myself finally giving in, "OK OK! I surrender! Stop the tickling!"

Seeing their lazy parents had finally got out of bed, they ran down the stairs, laughing happily all the way. It's nice to see that some kids still believe in Santa and be so eager to see little traces of him.

The house is filled with warmth and beautiful morning light coming through the colored-glass windows. The ornaments on the Christmas tree gleamed in the light, casting little spots of light on the floor. I wasn't sure if it were me or our living room were really a magical room. Through the swirling snow outside, the sunshine came and sparkled in our children crystal clear eyes and the look on their faces was pure happiness. They looked at each other lovingly, willingly shared the thing they just got and started trying out the new toys together. I must have been smiling broadly because suddenly Lissa turned to me, a surprised look crossed her face and she smiled, too. I gave her a little peck on the cheek and she snuggled closer and leaned on my shoulder, that smile still on her lips.

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I had a feeling of déjà vu: a feeling you had when, for the millionth time, you realized that all the pain of the shopping sprees was nothing if you had this one speacial moment with your love ones the next day. I wished us to be frozen in time, so for every one of those frozen moments I could see this wonderful scene. Some might say go take a picture or something, but, to me, this isn't a thing that could be kept in a plain photo. It's something either to live in or to burn in our mind and remind yourself of it every passing day.

END.

Another author's rambling: I know it's still early for this but I wish you all a merry Christmas my lovely readers, and may your family always be whole :) I bet you all agree that nothing is better than a heart-warming Christmas with your love ones and a cup of hot chocolate with mashmellow, right? :)


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